Pakistan’s new auditor general faces fallout from controversial ₹376 trillion ‘typos’

Pakistan’s newly appointed Auditor General, Maqbool Ahmed Gondal, has taken charge at a time when the country’s top audit body is under intense scrutiny for a report that dramatically overstated financial irregularities in government accounts, the Dawn reported.

Maqbool Ahmed Gondal, sworn in as Pakistan’s 22nd Auditor General at the Supreme Court on Monday, will serve a four-year term. His immediate challenge is dealing with the fallout from the Auditor General of Pakistan’s (AGP) earlier “Consolidated Audit Report of Federal Government for 2024-25,” which originally claimed irregularities of ₹376 trillion – a figure more than three times Pakistan’s GDP.

From “trillions” to “billions”

The report, released in August, alleged procurement irregularities worth ₹284 trillion, defective civil works of ₹85.6 trillion, and unresolved circular debt of ₹1.2 trillion. The astronomical numbers triggered disbelief within government circles and widespread criticism in the media.

After weeks of defending the report, the Auditor General’s office quietly admitted to “typos,” clarifying that the word trillion had been mistakenly used instead of billion in some places. The revised figure of ₹9.769 trillion—still a massive sum—was uploaded to the AGP’s website last week. It amounts to nearly two-thirds of Pakistan’s federal budget for FY 2023-24.

Why the numbers don’t add up

Experts say the initial ₹376 trillion figure was the result of an inflated aggregation of audit observations, rather than verified financial losses.

Economist Dr Vaqar Ahmad of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute told Dawn that the AGP often classifies procedural lapses as irregularities, which “multiplies values far beyond actual spending.”

Former auditors also point out that Pakistan’s auditing practices rely on outdated methods. A single project can be flagged multiple times under different rules, creating layers of “irregularities” without necessarily proving corruption.

Call for reform

Senior officials argue that the problem lies not in expertise but in approach. Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh, Secretary of the Housing and Works Division and a former finance secretary, said Pakistan’s audit system needs to shift from merely identifying lapses to evaluating whether government spending delivers “value for money,” as is common in developed countries.

The credibility challenge

The controversy has left the Auditor General’s office facing a crisis of credibility. Critics say the episode reflects deeper flaws in Pakistan’s accountability framework, where headline-grabbing figures often overshadow genuine financial oversight.